The Forgotten Genocide: The Plight of Rohingya Muslims in Refugee Camps

There is only one answer to the question of which people are subjected to the most brutal genocide in the world. Rohingya Muslims. The pain, cry, humiliation and death of this people is being forgotten when the news is filled with the military rule, the destruction of democracy and the imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar. An eerie silence prevails in Rakhine province, the main home of Myanmar’s Rohingya. A good percentage of the Muslims there have fled to different places. They are still wandering around and being arrested in many countries. A good portion is in refugee camps in Bangladesh. These camps do not go far enough to dampen humanitarian concerns about the Rohingya Muslims, even as the small nation appreciates its mercy. They are prisons, for suffering men.

In August 2017, when Buddhist extremists and the Myanmar military carried out the final round of genocide against the Rohingya Muslims, the people were forced to flee the state of Rakhine. Many reached Bangladesh after walking for days through jungles and perilous sea crossings across the Bay of Bengal. More than 900,000 people are currently living in the largest refugee camp in the world. The camp is located in the Cox’s Bazar region of Bangladesh, bordering Myanmar. There are other camps. There are a total of 1.2 million people in Bangladesh. True, they are “safe” in this camp. But his condition is pathetic. No water, no food, no sanitation, no treatment. Children have no education. Even if the Sheikh Hasina government of Bangladesh wants to prepare all this, they don’t have the money. International donors who are supposed to help are pulling out. Human despair is evident in refugee camps. They are shouting that send them back to their own land. Where are you going? Into violent Buddhist extremists? To the brutality of the military regime that maintains the same logic?

Each person received $12 from the World Food Program for a monthly meal. But due to the global recession and crises like Ukraine, aid has declined rapidly. The monthly food allowance was recently reduced to $10 per person and may soon be reduced to six dollars per month. At the same time, the price of rice, a staple food, has increased by 39 percent in Bangladesh. Babies are born in the camp. Their fate is to be a lifelong emaciated body due to malnutrition. As refugees, the Rohingya cannot go to work locally. This creates a lot of inactivity among young people.
The political leadership there has not shied away from the propaganda that the Rohingya came to Myanmar through British colonialism and are therefore not citizens of Myanmar. This lie has been repeated since Aung San Suu Kyi took power and the current junta regime. It is this lie that turns them into stateless men. Repeating this lie made this people attackable and killable by anyone. As long as this lie persists, the return of the Rohingya to Myanmar is dangerous.
The Rohingya cannot return to Myanmar until it is assured that the threat of violence from the Burmese military has ended. On the one hand, the refugees want to go back. On the other side is the helplessness of the Bangladesh government which cannot protect them properly. The Bangladesh government had asked the UN to send the Rohingyas back to Myanmar. But the UN refugee policy does not allow for such a solution. The policy is that once a people has been declared a refugee, they should not be sent back to the place they left without improving their situation. The international community should put pressure on the Myanmar government to either improve the security situation in Rakhine province and recognize the Rohingya as citizens. Or the countries of the world should be ready to increase the humanitarian aid to Bangladesh.
The US is willing to provide some humanitarian aid, but is reluctant to put political pressure on Myanmar. Both China and Russia continue their policy of non-interference. They have close ties with Bangladesh and Myanmar alike. Bangladesh had the support of the Soviet Union during the 1971 War of Independence. Even in Russia it continues. Bangladesh has followed a more or less pro-Russian policy on the issue of Ukraine invasion.

The country also has close trade and diplomatic ties with China. This relationship should be translated into assistance to the Rohingya and intervention for problem solving. India can also play an appropriate role. Experts in the field remind us that education for refugees needs to be prioritized and adjusted. Rohingya children are receiving school education under the supervision of the Bangladesh government. The system is prepared in the camp itself. But the Burmese language has been made the medium in the hope that it will be useful when going back to Myanmar. Burmese is what should be taught. But suppressing their own language, the Rohingya, would be a cultural travesty. Moreover, easy communication is possible in this language. Classes can be taught in Bangla (similar to the Rohingya language) with Chittagongian teachers. Experts point out that it could be English. Another proposal is to allow Rohingya youth to participate in Bangladesh’s manufacturing and commercial sectors with legal protection and, if necessary, restrictions. This should be done without disturbing the public order of that country. The indigenous Bangla people should not feel that outsiders are intruding. If the Rohingyas are able to engage in their own livelihood projects and generate their own income, it will be a big step forward. Connecting them with the local economy in Cox’s Bazar could also benefit Bangladesh. It will also help to save these men from idleness waiting for outside funding. Especially when the helping hands are withdrawn one by one.
Becoming a refugee is a deep pain. It is a state of collapse without being able to stand on its own soil. They come from places where war and civil strife have made life impossible. They seek refuge when their sense of identity such as race, religion and culture is brutally attacked. They leave the country only because they are afraid to die. Refugees only want to survive. The related UN Convention says that there is no such thing as an illegal refugee in the world. Refugees are created by those who gain the upper hand by force. It is their interference that makes the public roads a wasteland. It is a man-made crisis. According to UN figures, more than 21 million people are living as refugees in different countries. There is another form of internal asylum, which is staying in camps in one’s own country.

Being a refugee is a fate that can befall any people in the course of history. It is a mark of humanity to stand in solidarity with such people, to call out their truth and to seize opportunities to help them. Any ideology that is anti-human is anti-refugee. So was Nazism and Fascism. Neo-Nazism and Trumpism are like that. and Hindutva.